TALLAHASSEE - A group of legislators is gearing up for an effort to pass bills aimed at improving Florida’s mental health care system.

“This is an extremely important issue. It crosses every economic line, it crosses all demographics of the state of Florida,” said Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart.

The amount of funding used to aid the reforms, however, remains in question. Florida currently ranks 49th in per capita mental health spending.

Lawmakers pushing for reforms say they’re ready to commit more funding, but also to rework Florida’s piecemeal system for dealing with mental health into a more comprehensive approach.

A bill from Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-South Pasadena, would create a task force within the Department of Children and Families to recommend “a comprehensive plan for the delivery of behavioral health services,” but its final report would not be due until December 2016.

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Rick Scott opened the 2015 legislative session Tuesday by bragging about Florida’s economic gains in his first term, but also urged lawmakers to pass his agenda of tax cuts, freezing college tuition and increasing education spending.

“In the weeks ahead, I expect some people will try to divide us. They will try to distract us. But . . . I believe we can come together with our shared desire to improve this great state,” Scott said in his State of the State speech.

But he ignored a range of scandals involving inmate deaths at prisons, deaths of children that had been on the radar of the state’s child welfare agency and his firing of the state’s top law enforcement official without the required Cabinet approval.

Instead, Scott forged on with his push to cut manufacturing and cable and phone taxes, and asked lawmakers to “hold the line” on college tuition.

“Just like any business we should expect education to become more affordable each year, not less,” Scott said. “We...

"As a longtime supporter of the state of Israel and active Member of the Democratic-Israel-Working-Group Caucus (DIWG), I stand with the Jewish state in its continued quest for peace and prosperity for its people and for the world. Beyond a doubt, Israel is located in a difficult part of the world, surrounded by countries...

While some of their colleagues opt out in protest, South Florida’s trio of Jewish Democrats in the U.S. House will be on hand Tuesday to hear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial address to a joint session of Congress.

The three – Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston and Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach – are unflagging advocates for Israel. They also are among the most loyal supporters of President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat who will be snubbed.

Some Democrats are boycotting the speech, accusing Netanyahu of playing partisan politics and jeopardizing bipartisan support for Israel by talking to Congress but not Obama. The flap prompted callers from South Florida to ask Deutch whether he will attend.

“Everyone recognizes that Israel will be impacted by the results of these negotiations,” Deutch said in an interview. “They are a close ally, and as a result, too important to not hear what they have to say.

PALM BEACH — Marco Rubio isn't quite ready to say he's running for president, yet admits it sure does look like he will seek the White House in 2016.

“I think that's reflected in both our travel and some of the staffing decisions that we've made,” the Florida senator told The Associated Press. “We — if in fact I make that final decision on a run — want those elements to be in place.”

The message that his decision is still pending is one Rubio delivered again this past week on stage, both at the Conservative Public Action Conference outside Washington and at the conservative Club For Growth in Palm Beach. But allies of the first-term senator and former speaker of the Florida House who have spoken with him about his plans fully expect that he will run for president, rather than a second Senate term.

“I assume he's running,” said Wayne Berman, a veteran Republican fundraiser who was chairman of Sen. John McCain's presidential fundraising in 2008. “He will help the party turn the page,...